Deerstalkers take non-lead initiative

Professional deerstalker

Chris Dalton expects an imminent shift to non-toxic ammunition, but admits that the current options still need time to develop.

Talking to Shooting

Times, Chris explained:

“The Forestry Commission is not over-enamoured with non-toxic, especially when it comes to larger deer species such as reds. They are finding that they have to reduce the ranges at which they are shooting to make sure that the accuracy is 100%.

“They find that deer shot with non-lead are running a bit further, too, and so they are erring towards neck shots and lower head shots, which is not the best practice. The reports are not extensive, however, and I am committed to changing over to non-toxic fairly quickly.

“I think the change will happen sooner than the five years that are mentioned because the game market will drive professional stalkers to meet the demands from supermarkets. As members of the British Game Alliance, they are pushing for non-toxic by July 2022.

“Recreational stalkers are not being forced into that kind of scenario,” Chris surmises. “Although I have noticed a big uptake in amateurs experimenting with nontoxic, so it appears that the transition will happen sooner rather than later.”

good teams shot too few birds. “It’s uneconomic to do them,” he said. “They may burn lots of cartridges, but they forget that when we come in short of the expected bag at the end of the day.” I might have added something about respect for quarry and moral acceptability.

Now, I am not for smashing low birds and I relish a testing one as much as anyone, but I do think that it will be no bad thing if the change away from lead persuades us to reassess what is sporting.

The late Hugh Falkus was clear that fishing ultra-fine tackle with a high risk of breaking the line and leaving your hook in a big fish was not sporting and I am very much of the view that shooting very high birds where there is a serious risk of wounding is even more unacceptable.

Three decades of using either bismuth or steel for all my wildfowl shooting have convinced me that there is no problem with either. I am also reminded of some words from back then, penned by American shooter Worth Mathewson, who still writes for Shooting Times.

He said he would not change back to lead even if he could, because he

“My bigger concern with steel is greater carcass damage”

The switch from lead to steel could lead Guns to rethink their limitations on range with high birds